Veteran Birmingham sailor Tony Bulli-more is looking forward to one last major race.

Veteran Birmingham sailor Tony Bulli-more is looking forward to one last major race.

Bullimore, aged 66, who has sailed more than 300,000 miles, won 150 trophies and raced round the world three times, said: "I'm getting towards the end of my racing career but I've still got a little bit more in me and I'll soon know when to hang up my oilies.

"I think my next major race round the world will probably be my last. At the moment I am looking at it as my swansong."

Just back from the Gulf state of Qatar, where he and his crew came second in the Oryx Quest 2005 - the world's most lucrative round the world yacht race - Bullimore's next major competition will start in Doha in 2006.

He's planning to build a new 120ft racing boat to enter his final race next year.

The race is expected to take eight months because boats will stop off in different countries on the way.

He said: "This was my third time round the world. It doesn't get any easier, you just get more used to it because you know what you're getting yourself into."

When Bullimore entered the Oryx Quest 2005 he was underestimated. As he and his crew showed up with their catamaran Daedalus in Qatar in February, more than a few people smiled at the audacity of a skipper who would enter an older yacht against some of the newest and fastest multi-hulls in the world.

Despite a recent refit, Daedalus still bore the scars of many miles of tough offshore sailing.

At just over 5ft, Bulli-more was the oldest and smallest skipper competing. Similarly, Daedalus was the race's smallest and oldest entrant at 102ft long and 21 years old.

But he silenced his critics, overcoming the light and fickle winds of the Arabian Gulf to take second place and collect a

$300,000 prize. Bullimore said: "The boat is very fast and has held world records before. It was in pristine condition with a good crew who pushed the boat hard, and we knew we wouldn't be far behind the winners."

Bullimore, who grew up in Birmingham and ran a business in Digbeth for 20 years, is best remembered for one of the most remarkable survival stories in sailing history.

During the Vendee Globe solo round the world race his boat capsized in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean. He stayed alive by spending nearly five days in an air pocket in the upturned hull of his yacht.